Social-ecological system in Depapre Bay Area of Jayapura Papua Indonesia

A Socio-Ecological Systems (SESs) are systems that connect human systems and natural systems by emphasizing that humans must be seen as part of, and cannot be separated from nature. Understanding SESs is very important as the main capital in planning the management of coastal and marine resources. The purpose of this study was to study SESs in Depapre Bay, Jayapura, Papua Province using the Drivers-Pressure-Impact-State-Responses (DPSIR) approach. Based on the research results, it was found that the issues and problems of SESs in Depapre Bay were related to the utilization of coastal and marine resources that were not environmentally friendly, such as the use of blast fishing and tuba root poisoning and development that did not consider the sustainability of coastal and marine resources. In addition, the response of the government and stakeholders has not focused on overcoming the damage to ecosystems and coastal and marine biological resources in an integrated manner. This can be seen from the programs carried out that are still partial, especially in the prevention of destructive fishing and the rehabilitation of coastal and marine ecosystems that have been damaged.

Blast Fishing Activity and Coping Strategies in Indonesia (South Nias and Pohuwato Regency)

Indonesia is one such country that has not yet been successful with strategies of the government to cope with the blast fishing problem. In the existing literature, many scholars tend to study the impact of blast fishing activity from a social and ecological perspective, and few works focus on examining the governance arrangements in place to tackle blast fishing, the effectiveness of these, and how they might be improved. This research uses the case of South Nias and Pohuwato Regency in Indonesia to understand and analyses the factors affecting the outcomes of governance measures to cope with blast fishing. Findings revealed that the blast fishing situation is less improved in South Nias but significantly reduced in Pohuwato. The existing strategies in South Nias have not succeeded in eradicating the blast fishing activity of because of the lack budget and resources for implementing preventative actions. In contrast, in Pohuwato, the involvement of resource users, the co-ordination of government institutions, sharing of resources between the authorities and the community appear to be the main factors that have contributed to more effective governance measures and a decline in blast fishing activity.

Threat of blast fishing on coral diversity in Peucang Island, Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia

Gumbira RWW, Rizkia F, Pribadi TDK, Hidayat MS. 2017. Threat of blast fishing on coral diversity in Peucang Island National Park, Indonesia. Ocean Life 1: 26-31. As a maritime country with high biodiversity, the health of Indonesian coral reefs is of high concern. Coral reef ecosystems are friable, and mortality occurs relatively quickly after disturbance, not only by nature but also by human activities such as fish bombing. Fish bombing is a big issue that has always threatened coral reefs, including in Peucang Island, part of Ujung Kulon National Park, a place that is protected by law to preserve its natural diversity. A study on coral coverage was conducted to observe the condition of corals and related biota in a coral reef ecosystem. Data was collected using Point Intercept Transect method in 2m and 8m depths. The results showed that coral coverage in 8-meter depth is only 44.02 percent of the live coral in 2-meter depth. The reduction in the value of Diversity Indices, Dominance Indices as well as the Evenness Index in all study sites led to low diversity, with no dominance by a particular species at any of the study sites. The results also showed that corals are well distributed in both depths. Over the past three years, the damage to corals in Peucang Island had generally increased by 0.7 percent due to fish bombing activities.

Baseline reef health surveys at Bangka Island (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) reveal new threats

Worldwide coral reef decline appears to be accompanied by an increase in the spread of hard coral diseases. However, whether this is the result of increased direct and indirect human disturbances and/or an increase in natural stresses remains poorly understood. The provision of baseline surveys for monitoring coral health status lays the foundations to assess the effects of any such anthropogenic and/or natural effects on reefs. Therefore, the objectives of this present study were to provide a coral health baseline in a poorly studied area, and to investigate possible correlations between coral health and the level of anthropogenic and natural disturbances. During the survey period, we recorded 20 different types of coral diseases and other compromised health statuses. The most abundant were cases of coral bleaching, followed by skeletal deformations caused by pyrgomatid barnacles, damage caused by fish bites, general pigmentation response and galls caused by cryptochirid crabs. Instances of colonies affected by skeletal eroding bands, and sedimentation damage increased in correlation to the level of bio-chemical disturbance and/or proximity to villages. Moreover, galls caused by cryptochirid crabs appeared more abundant at sites affected by blast fishing and close to a newly opened metal mine. Interestingly, in the investigated area the percentage of corals showing signs of ‘common’ diseases such as black band disease, brown band disease, white syndrome and skeletal eroding band disease were relatively low. Nevertheless, the relatively high occurrence of less common signs of compromised coral-related reef health, including the aggressive overgrowth by sponges, deserves further investigation. Although diseases appear relatively low at the current time, this area may be at the tipping point and an increase in activities such as mining may irredeemably compromise reef health.